Category: Crazy Times

Aging, Crazy Times, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

A Good Deed, That May Never Go Away

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This story goes back several years. It all started when an old gal I know needed some help. She desperately needed some help. She lives in a very decrepit old house. I got word that the City (an unnamed city) was going to condemn her home that had been in her family for many decades. There was junk piled up higher than an Elephant’s Eye. (I finally found a way to incorporate that line in a story. It was included in a nasty letter I received from a homeowner years ago that we had installed a wastewater line adjacent to … Continue reading A Good Deed, That May Never Go Away

Aging, Amazing Things, Crazy Times, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Tommy Houy was a Honda Motorcycle guy all the way

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I think his first motorcycle was a 125cc that he had when I first came to school in Marble Falls. That was starting in 8th grade. I don’t think he ran all over on it, but rode it over on his side of town. Then he jumped up to a 350cc. It was metallic blue. That’s the one he wrecked on. (More on that below) During the repairing of it, he switched the color to a metal flake orange. A few years later he went up to a 450cc, then eventually a 750cc. Buy the time he and I became … Continue reading Tommy Houy was a Honda Motorcycle guy all the way

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, My Friends, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Making Friends

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It’s a funny thing about FaceBook and friendships. Let me tell you or remind you how I met Terry Robinson. Here goes: Terry was living up in the DFW area and was wanting to sell out and move down this way. In March of 2021 he thought something like if I do a search for someone that’s always posting about Bertram and Smithwick then I may find someone that has connections and may know of a place for sale in the area. Pretty ingenious thinking, right? When my name popped up he instant messaged me, introducing himself. The only problem … Continue reading Making Friends

Another Daily Happening, Crazy Times, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

These Plastic Cars!!!!

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I had something happen to me the other day. I was driving down the highway watching what I was doing. All of a sudden I heard a big racket. I thought “what did I run over”? I was pretty sure I had my eyes on the road and I hadn’t seen anything laying in the highway. I looked in my rear view mirror and a long black something came flying out and turned a few flips in the air and landed over on the edge of the pavement. I considered going back to see what it was, but I was … Continue reading These Plastic Cars!!!!

Crazy Times, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

I Had A Jeep Cherokee That Had A Bad Habit

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This car had a strange quirk about it. We would go each day and have lunch at The Pecan Tree Cafe in Waller which was a 10 minute drive from our job in Hockley. There were usually 4 or 5 of us riding together to lunch. At precisely the same spot every day it would die, on a straight and level stretch of highway. When I say die, I mean die. Like pull over on the side of the road and in just a few seconds it could be restarted and we’d continue on our way. It took a few … Continue reading I Had A Jeep Cherokee That Had A Bad Habit

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, In and Around Austin, The Construction Biz, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

My Trench Box Is Bigger Than Your Trench Box

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This special trench box was built in our shop and used on one project, a 72” and 84” water line line for a new water plant project in Austin, Texas. I have serious reasons to believe it is the largest trench box ever built. It measured 44’ long x 12’ tall with an 8’ tall stacker section to go on top, making it 20’ tall. This box isn’t for just anyone. We had two EX 1200 Hitachi Excavators that were used to dig and lay the pipe and took them both to advance the box ahead. The approximate weight of … Continue reading My Trench Box Is Bigger Than Your Trench Box

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, In and Around Austin, The Construction Biz5 Comments

You Have Got To Be Kidding Me

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I had a new Cat 385 that was delivered probably in 2003 or 2004. I ordered it equipped with a mass excavation boom and a short stick. I knew it would limit our ability to go very deep, but most of the jobs we were bidding on were hard rock jobs. When I compared the different stick and boom configurations, the breakout force of the one I ordered was almost double of a long stick machine. If we were going to be successful digging hard rock we need the most force that we could get at the teeth. The machine … Continue reading You Have Got To Be Kidding Me

Aging, Amazing Things, Crazy Times, Funny Happenings, The Construction Biz, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

How Old Am I ?

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I’m So Old That: When I first started in the underground utility business we used batter boards and string lines for setting grade on wastewater lines. A good 6’ wooden folding engineers rule and a torpedo level were the grade setters best friend.About a decade later before lasers became widely used. (Early 1980s)Many of the old school inspectors wouldn’t trust lasers so had us set up batter boards to use to prove out that the laser was shooting a straight line and grade. I’m So Old That: John Deere and Caterpillar hadn’t started making hydraulic track excavators when I first … Continue reading How Old Am I ?

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, The Construction Biz, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

It Popped Up Like A Cork !!!!

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We were laying 96” CSC waterline up in the south part of Dallas several years ago. We came up out of the Trinity River Bottoms with the line, across an old dump area. Not a trash dump, but low lands that had soils dump there) We were making several hundred feet a day. While going through that bad stretch of ground, it called for the rubber o-ring joints to also be welded on the inside and outside. We used a special neoprene gasket that didn’t burn like regular rubber gaskets would allowing for three protections against leaking. That forced us … Continue reading It Popped Up Like A Cork !!!!

Aging, Amazing Things, Crazy Times, Thoughts and Musings, TravelsLeave a comment

A Fast Trip South

lewisotr

I find myself in an awkward situation this morning. I’m writing a book currently that is based on friendships and what friends mean to us in life. I haven’t mentioned this to anyone except those within my tight family circle. I just came up with the idea a few days ago. It will be wrapped around several stories I’ve previously had on The Angora Chronicles and a few other thought’s that I have on the subject. Enough of this. Now on to my dilemma. I have a friend that would be very much a part of the book, because he … Continue reading A Fast Trip South